New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-08-28

and that IL the British had known what they couid
do they would have run away rather than hght
them. Mr.. Greg has no sense OF humor.
II is In his account OF the anti-savery connicb
and the Rebellion that Mr. Greg gives freest rem 10
his temper. The passions misconceptions 1o'ues
wrongs. vaporings Of twenty-five and thirty years
ago start I'D like ugly phsntasms from tho pi' .,
oblivion as We read the hot pages OF this angry anu
Reckless Englishman. Here Is in fact perfect
representative of the infurate Southern partisans
,vbo used 10 be so common among English Torres
durine the war; but who have dropped out OF sight
an almost ont of memory since the South itself
has ceased to be in sympathy with them. There
was nothing too bal for them to believe then OIL
Northern soldiers and statesmen, and there Is noun
ing too bad for Mr.. Greg TO believe now. In argu-
Ing the Justice of the Confederate cause he rds
himself ut the start of considerable embarrassment
by frankly approving slavery. 1t was not merely
an institution unfortunately fixed upon the south
and necessary as an alternative to greater evils Out
it was natural and bene6cient order OF existence,
to be priced for its own sake both by slave ana
master. The anti-slavery movement was an uh-
pardonabie attack upon tbs equal political rights
of the South and upon private property-the prop
ertv i'm mer-whIch does not differ from any otner
kind of property. In following tho course OF the
ante-wsr contest between slavery and freedom MI
Greg does not notice the continually enlarging
claims of the slave power, the new demands WHICH
1t Pot forth after every futile compromise out no
represents the aggressios Of the South as no more
than a steady and sober nsistence upon fair
diyision Of tho territories between slavery anu
freedom The reader who remembers that the time
came when fair division was just what the oou'n
most passion 4ely refused and that it went out OF
the Union on the demand that slavery snou.d 10
established in all the Territories. even against the
| koba MT he they
follow Mr. Greg's fair division theory through
cbapter after chapter Of superhcated rhetoric and
NAV onder how he will extricate himself from the
cul de sac into which he is running. But MS
method is simple. He merely ignores the facts'
The South he declares WAS justified In repudiatlhg
the Missouri Compromise when she found that she
was gong to get less from 1t than she expected
She was justified IN repudating it when 1t was pro
posed 10 admit the free State of California whlch
did not lie within the limits OF the compromise
arrangement. Missouri acted purely IN seH-ue-
fence in refusing to permit the organiation Oh
free Territory Kansas along the whole OF her
western border" and neither she nor her sister
States could be expected to acquiesce in It, al
though here was q case in which the terms OF the
compromise applied exactly. The South in short
was justified in repudiating every pledge when
in,erfered with the extension Of slavery, and II was
excuse enough for the violation OF the agreement
that it not to the interest OF the South 10 Keep
il. Yet Mr.. Greg Is shocked at "the poiiticai
morality. the constitutional loyalty the re gard LOT
positive Obligations, which characterized tho he-
pubcans; the boundlcss, unexampled Vltupera-
ton, the menaces outrages and insults when
eoaded the South to fury; which above all rem
dered sober discussion. compromise, confidence in
the most solemn assurances henceforth impossible
He excuses and evidently in his heart approves the
ou1t nv =. RrOOks
ator Sumner, covering the victim with obloquy and
giving q high character to his assailant. OF the
Republican platform of 1850 he says that the lead
ers of the party. beaten from the ground of the
Constltu ton, presumed to read into the Federal
compact the loose phraseology, the declamatoIy
periods the excited nonsense and unmeaning piati-
tudes of Jeffersons silly Declaration OF lucepend-
ence; all angry manifesto drawn In the tempestuous
passion of an inchoate rebellion by the most ex-
travagant of doctrinares, aud adopted, Win an
enemy at their gates by body which, Whatever
the misty halo cast around its memory by events in
which It had little share was regarded with almost
unmixed CONTEMPT by those who heard 1t in debate
and saw it in action Secession of course. was not
only legally and constitutiona!ly justified, but it
was compelled by tho aggressions Of the North;
although if it be true that to say that tho Sonth
seeded and fought for slavery is 20 accuse her OF
political imbecility," Mr. Greg should at least have
defined the nature of those aggressions.
In matters OF detail MI Gregs errors and dis
tortons are so many that are tempted to EXPRESS
a wish that instead of writing the slavery chapters
himself he had secured the services of ono of those
British gentlemen of repute and station who do
not lie.' But this would be unfair. We cannot
altogether acqnit Mr. Greg OF Intentionally
mangling the records, bat we have no doubt that
he believes his own story. So mad a man must be
very much in earnest. To follow him through the
War of the Rebellion would be a waste OF time
He Is not military historian He has not the
temper to balance authorities or TO weigh his own
language. He has little perception OF character
that he sees nothing in Lincoln but demagogne
and a vulgar tyrant for whom Mcclellan was too
much of a gentleman and a Christian; and SO little
consciousness Of what the war has settled that he
considers the Union even now military despotism
over subjugated and unconsenting States, defends
without reserve the conduct OF his own Govern
ment In the Alabama cases, and denounces tho
Treaty of Washington and the Geneva arbitration.
And while he Is abusing individuals, Imputng false
motives and pouring forth flood OF vituperaton
which we have never seen equalled In serious
historical work, he is necessarily complaining of
the partisanship and violence of the American
author ties whom he uses when they suit him and
vilifes when their testimony Is not to his taste.
He is Sir Anthony Absolute IN passion pointing to
himself as pattern of self-control None of your
violence you dog! Look at me. Am not calm T.